Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lessened its holdings in Avient Co. (NYSE:AVNT) by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,094 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,491 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.10% of Avient worth $3,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AVNT. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Avient in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Avient by 88.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Avient in the first quarter valued at approximately $133,000. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Avient by 11.2% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 4,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Avient by 50,811.1% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $190,000 after buying an additional 4,573 shares during the period. 95.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on AVNT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Avient from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Avient from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Avient from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Avient from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.

Avient Stock Up 3.1 %

NYSE:AVNT traded up $1.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $46.24. The stock had a trading volume of 337,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,869. Avient Co. has a twelve month low of $27.73 and a twelve month high of $47.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 40.21, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.47.

Avient (NYSE:AVNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $850.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $841.40 million. Avient had a net margin of 3.37% and a return on equity of 9.79%. The company’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Avient Co. will post 2.61 EPS for the current year.

Avient Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.2575 per share. This is a boost from Avient’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Avient’s dividend payout ratio is currently 89.57%.

Avient Company Profile

Avient Corporation operates as a formulator of material solutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and Asia. It operates in two segments, Color, Additives and Inks; and Specialty Engineered Materials. The Color, Additives and Inks segment offers custom color and additive concentrates in solid and liquid form for thermoplastics, dispersions for thermosets, and specialty inks; custom-formulated liquid system, such as polyester, vinyl, natural rubber and latex, polyurethane, and silicone; and proprietary inks.